The tart recipe I wanted to try next called for lump crab meat. I already had a can of Private Selection lump crab meat in the pantry so picked up another can, Ralph's brand.
Before I go on, I'm confident that these two brands are essentially the same, the only difference being the labels themselves. Both are distributed by Inter-American Products out of Cincinnati, Ohio which handles grocery store brand foods. Private Selection is a Kroger label and Ralph's is a Kroger company.
The Ralph's lump crab meat ingredients are crabmeat, water, salt, disodium phosphate, citric acid, calcium disodium EDTA, sodium metabisulfate. And watch out! It contains crab.
The Private Selection lump crab meat ingredents are lump crab meat, water, salt, sugar, citric acid, sodium metabisulphite (preservative). And here too, there's a watch out statement: contains crab and sulphite.
Opening the cans, I see both have the weird little liners like the Bumble Bee crab meat did. And the can on the right, the Ralph's can, has paler meat.
Draining the cans, it seems the Private Selection crab meat looks...drier.
Oh! Maybe it's because the Private Selection stuff is old as the hills, and best by DECEMBER 2011. I'm quite sure I purchased it in October 2010, on sale, thinking, "maybe I'll do something with this in the near future," not realizing that time would be almost two years later. The Ralph's can is best by December 2013.
Tasting a piece from each can, the old stuff has a distinct not-so-fresh taste and is indeed drier. I considered going out and buying a new can to replace the old one but decided to live dangerously and roll with it. I'll tell you right now, if you are in this particular position just go to the store.
Private Selection: $4.49/6 oz.
Ralph's lump crab meat: $4.76/6 oz.
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